Knitting and Reading; Reading and Knitting

My sportlov posts have made me realise that I am doing knitting and reading. I hadn't knit anything in a long time, so that is really the new element here. And this means I have now reached eligibility for the Yarn Along blog link-up, which I had previously only observed from a distance.

Photographic evidence of what I'm reading and what I'm knitting. Not pictured: my glee to have stumbled upon a legitimate reason to join such a lovely blog linkup.

Answer Me This!

I just love a good link-up. I can't help myself. Here is one I got excited about that Haley is guest-hosting, where you simply answer the questions. I had fun writing these, and I hope you enjoy reading my answers.

1. What's the scariest thing that's ever been in your yard?

Probably a skunk, which is nothing to be too terrified of, assuming you haven't got it cornered. I used to live in a barn (transformed on the inside to be a house) in Vermont, and we had a really high skunk population. Several times I got home late from the office, only to pull into the driveway to see a skunk milling about. So then it would just be a game of timing my escape from the car. One time the skunk was on the porch (possibly eating dog food that one of my house-mates had not skunk-proofed), and that one took the longest to wait for.

2. Beards. Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Thumbs up. See exhibit A.

3. If stuff breaks, can you fix it?

I guess I feel pretty confident about my ability to fix stuff, so I usually at least attempt to fix stuff. The problem is that it often takes more than one try, and the first try might not look so pretty. Imagine my front bicycle light, dangling off of its mount, with some ineffective pieces of duct tape stuck to it in various places, and there you have exhibit B.

4. What was your first car?

A (94?) Nisan Sentra! Black with a purple racing stripe! I loved that car!

5. How often do you eat out?

When I first moved to Sweden, I ate out basically never because restaurants are crazy-expensive here. The prices for lunch are much more reasonable though, so I've started going to lunch once a week with some friends from work. 

6. Why is your hair like that?

For nearly half of my life I've just been on this trend of growing my hair long and then chopping off 10+ inches to donate. The problem is that I really don't love how my hair looks when it gets long enough to be able to donate. Plus my grandma told me she loved my short hair and thought I should always keep it short. 

So right now my hair is just a bit past my shoulders. This second photo is very recent, but I've actually cut a few inches of my hair since this was taken, because the length was starting to bother me. I've been considering chopping it short again, because I like it best, but I worry that I'd pay for a crazy-expensive haircut only to have look not-good.

13 Photos to remember 2013 by

This is a blog post trend that I am excited to get on board with. So here we go then (with links to the original posts)!


Making cheese is fun!


Ducks and snow.


Woman on bicycle. This was maybe my most favorite photo of the year.


The dinner I ate while waiting for the announcement of the new pope.


A trip to Stockholm during Julie's visit to Sweden.


The pigeons of Vienna.


Contra dancing in Denver (dancing a hambo at mile high elevation is not easy).


My borrowed and beloved tent.


My favorite summertime activity. I especially loved that there was still enough light to not need my bicycle light on my ride home at 10pm. Also, those evenings got even better once I started getting a waffle (with cream and jam) during the break.


Greg and I go to France.


Really delicious meal cooked by my husband.


Beer production!


Waiting for aurora that never came.

Going through old posts and photos made me realize that I took and posted a lot more photos in the first half of 2013 than the second half. I suppose this is just a result of living in a different country than my husband versus the same. I also learned that most of my posts are not titled in any sort of enlightening way, especially the seven quick takes post. Maybe I'll do better this year.

This was fun! Thanks for hosting the linkup!

And then there was a nun dancing

So. Our hotel overlooks this square, and last night, for the second night since we have arrived, there was entertainment in the square. From what we can tell it is all done by the youth group from the church that is just outside of the shot on the left side of the above photo. At church on Sunday they led the music, so you see, we know it is the same people. So the night's entertainment starts with the marching band, pictured above. There is a priest playing a trumpet there. Probably their best hit is "When the Saints Go Marching In". On Monday night, they opened and closed with that one.

Last night there was more variety to the show, with several different people singing or playing or dancing. The crowd was slowly drifting away before the last performance of the night started: a nun doing interpretive dance. Nuns are amazing.

Plus we had a great view from our balcony of the nun dancing, and her shadows were pretty picturesque. So with that, I shall join the Theme Thursday: Shadow photo linkup.